The launch of the OnePlus 10 Pro is now official, with the phone arriving in China on January 11. So what exactly do we know about this upcoming flagship?
Quite a bit, as it turns out, though OnePlus has only officially show off the look of the OnePlus 10 Pro and confirmed a few features here and there. But other details have leaked out, painting a pretty complete picture of the OnePlus 10 Pro.
That phone has a tough act to follow. The OnePlus 9 Pro impressed us thanks to its improved cameras. Still, we can think of some key changes we want to see in the OnePlus 10 Pro.
In the meantime, here’s what we’ve heard so far about the OnePlus 10 Pro.
OnePlus 10 Pro news (updated January 3)
OnePlus 10 Pro release date
It’s official: OnePlus says the OnePlus 10 Pro is coming to China on January 11. That follows co-founder Peter Lau’s promise last month that the OnePlus 10 Pro would be revealed in January. In a Weibo post, Lau noted said “see you in January” alongside a hashtag for the 10 Pro.
When the phone will launch beyond China is unclear, and we’re not sure if there will be a standard OnePlus 10 joining the OnePlus 10 Pro. Rumors have suggested the phone will launch in the U.S. and other nations in March or April following its China rollout.
With CES 2022 getting underway, we could have more details coming out this week. OnePlus had planned a big presence at the show, though it’s since joined other companies in opting out of a physical presence in Las Vegas. We’ll be keeping an ear open for any further OnePlus announcements this week.
OnePlus 10 Pro design
There’s no more need for renders, leaks and guesses. The OnePlus 10 Pro’s look has been revealed by OnePlus itself and reports of a “polished series 9” weren’t far off the mark.
While the OnePlus 10 Pro does look a little bit like the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro, there’s a noticeable difference in the camera array. It’s a fairly big square block housed in a noticeably raised bump. The bump itself blends into the side of the phone not unlike the contour cut design Samsung popularized with its Galaxy S21 lineup.
Another thing we’ve learned from the OnePlus 10 Pro design reveal is OnePlus’ ongoing partnership with Hasselblad remains firmly intact. That’s great news as the Swedish lens specialist helped OnePlus dramatically improve the cameras on the OnePlus 9 series. We’re hoping for similar advances with the OnePlus 10 Pro.
OnePlus’ images show off the OnePlus 10 Pro in two colors — black and green.
OnePlus 10 Pro software
The OnePlus 10 Pro is going to see a big change for the OnePlus line up, thanks to the company having a closer relationship with sister brand Oppo. Both companies are set to merge its respective flavors of Android, Oxygen OS and Color OS, into a single, unified smartphone operating system.
OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that the OnePlus 10 Pro will be the first OnePlus device to use the new operating system when it launches. It was also announced that older OnePlus devices, up to and including the OnePlus 8, will be able to upgrade eventually.
“By combining our software resources to focus on one unified and upgraded operating system for both OnePlus and Oppo devices globally,” Lau said. ”We will combine the strengths from both into one even more powerful OS: the fast and smooth, burdenless experience of OxygenOS, and the stability and rich features of ColorOS.”
Presumably this means that the still-unnamed OS will keep the same clean near-stock Android experience of OxygenOS, which will be a relief to long-time OnePlus fans.
OnePlus 10 Pro camera
Hasselblad may be working on the cameras for the OnePlus 10 Pro, but we haven’t heard much about the camera system itself. Based on previous phones we can make some informed guesses about what might be on the way.
We do know that the OnePlus 10 Pro will come with three cameras, as has been the case on previous models. We’d expect that those are a main camera along with ultrawide and telephoto lenses.
The latest tidbit of camera information comes courtesy of a Weibo post, which claims the OnePlus 10 Pro will get a 5x optical zoom range, trumping the 3.3x zoom of its predecessor. That would give it the zooming capabilities to challenge the likes of the iPhone 13 Pro. We’d take this with a pinch of slat as the rumors is a little vague, but the more zoom range for OnePlus phones would be much appreciated and would seem like a smart upgrade.
A new leak claims that the OnePlus 10 Pro will feature a 32MP front-facing camera in a left-aligned hole-punch cutout. For the rear cameras, the leaker says that the phone will have a 48MP main, 50MP ultrawide, and 8MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom.
Of course, OnePlus will need to ensure it does plenty of work on the image signal processing and computational photography side to be in with a chance of earning a spot on our best camera phones list.
OnePlus 10 Pro specs
The OnePlus 10 Pro is set to get the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. OnePlus co-founder Pete Lau said Qualcomm’s new chipset will feature in the “next-generation” of OnePlus phones, and a OnePlus 10 Pro teaser video clearly shows off the Qualcomm silicon.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 promises a chip that’s 20% faster and 30% more power efficient than the Snapdragon 888 found inside the OnePlus 9. Improvements to gaming and AI performance are also expected.
As for memory that’s expected to come in 8GB and 12GB versions. And storage is likely to come in at 128GB and 256GB options.
A new leak has detailed some the OnePlus 10 Pro’s specs, notably the display. The phone will supposedly have a 6.7-inch QHD+ 120Hz display.
And following that leak, Pete Lau confirmed on Chinese social network Weibo that the OnePlus 10 Pro will use an new LTPO 2.0 display. Following on from the LTPO panel in the OnePlus 9 Pro, which can dynamically scale for a fast 120Hz down to 1Hz when a speed refresh rate isn’t needed, LTPO 2.0 will also make for an overall smoother display.
How this will work in practice wasn’t made clear, but Lau noted LTPO 2.0 would facilitate a “new level of smoothness.” Nevertheless, this could be a boon to players of fast-action mobile games, or even those looking top tap into the Nvidia GeForce Now RTX 3080 cloud-based game streaming.
OnePlus 10 Pro charging
A recent rumor has claimed the OnePlus 10 Pro will come with 125W charging, near doubling the 65W charging the current OnePlus phones have.
That would yield a boost on charring speeds, but not actually half the charging time. That’s because as wattage increases so does electrical resistance, so there comes a point where there’s arguably diminishing returns.
Nevertheless, increased charging speeds are to be expected from the OnePlus 10 range. We’ll just have to wait and see if they make a tangible real-world upgrade.
We got a leak with the OnePlus 10 Pro’s specs, and in it, the leaker claims that the OnePlus 10 Pro will sport 80W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. For reference, the OnePlus 9 Pro charged at 65W wired and 50W wireless (with the OnePlus wireless charger).
OnePlus 10 Pro: What we’d like to see
Official water resistance ratings: OnePlus has never been particularly fond of IP water resistance ratings, only releasing two phones with one over its lifetime: The OnePlus 8 Pro and OnePlus 9 Pro. It’s about time OnePlus followed the rest of the phone industry and offered it on any OnePlus 10 models (assuming a OnePlus 10 joins the OnePlus 10 Pro).
Faster wireless charging: OnePlus was always slow to take up wireless charging, and the first non-Pro device to get it was the OnePlus 9. Unfortunately it only had 15W wireless charging speeds, compared to the 9 Pro’s 50W. Even if the OnePlus 10 isn’t quite as fast as the 10 Pro, we still need more than a measly 15W.
No gimmicky cameras: Whether it’s a macro lens, monochrome lens, or something equally as pointless, OnePlus has a history of fluffing its cameras with an extra lens that doesn’t do very much. It’s worse when the genuinely useful telephoto lens is sacrificed as a result. We just hope the OnePlus 10 range doesn’t fall into the same trap.
More camera improvements: While the OnePlus 9 range made huge advances in camera performance, OnePlus is still lagging behind the likes of Apple and Google. We hope that the OnePlus 10 Pro keeps that momentum going, and makes similarly large leaps in post-snap camera processing.
Keep the pricing low: Flagship phones seem to be getting more and more expensive, and OnePlus is no exception. However, the company has always had more to offer at lower price points, and we’d like to see that continue. Yes the iPhone 13 Pro may be $999, but that doesn’t mean the OnePlus 10 Pro has to be as well.